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HalfEmptyHero
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 Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 1:07 pm Post subject: Appositives |
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Appositives
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that follows another noun or noun phrase to better describe or add identifying information to the noun or noun phrase. Take the following sentence as an example:
John, the barber, cuts hair daily
In this sentence the noun phrase the barber is used to describe John. Which John is it? The one that is a barber.
There are two types of appositives—restrictive and nonrestrictive. Nonrestrictive appositives, such as the example above, are enclosed in commas. A restricted appositive, see the example below, uses no commas.
The barber John cuts hair daily
In this example, the John restricts the barber, as it identifies exactly which barber it is. Whereas if a nonrestrictive appositive is removed the noun or phrase in the sentence can still be identified, when a restrictive appositive is removed the identity of the noun or phrase it relates to is obscured.
When removing the appositive in the first example, the sentence becomes John cuts hair daily. The identity of John is still clear. But in the second example, the sentence becomes The barber cuts hair daily and the identity of the barber is unknown.
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Thunderbird
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| Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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There was something about a prepositional phrase regarding this wasn't there?
Such as in:
I took my hat, which was brown, off and deposited it on the counter.
Isn't the portion between the commas a prepositional phrase? Or is that an appositive?
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HalfEmptyHero
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| Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 5:57 am Post subject: |
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| That is actually a relative clause. It does contain a preposition however in this case it is a relative preposition marking a relative clause. See this.
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D-Lotus
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| Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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From Sin and Syntax, by Constance Hale (concerning appositives):
"How 'bout this book dedication by a writer who abandoned the serial comma (i.e., the comma preceding and in a list) and in doing so created a delusional appositive:
This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God."
As you can see, by skipping the comma, the author accidentally created an appositive-- a hilarious one! 
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